The 2019 Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards were presented on the evening of Saturday, October 19, 2019.
Mike Wieringo Spirit Award
Fan Favorite Winners
- Favorite Hero: Toaster Dude
- Favorite Villain: Lance Cordrey from Aberrant (Action Lab Entertainment)
- Favorite New Series: Luff
- Favorite New Talent: Enjelicious
- Favorite Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Best Cartoonist (Writer/Artist)
- Echorise
- Enjelicious
- Terry Moore – Winner
- Sean Murphy
- Jim Woodring
Best Writer
- Brian Michael Bendis
- Richard Dent
- Rylend Grant
- Jeff Lemire
- Scott Snyder
- Brian K. Vaughan – Winner
Best Artist or Penciller
- Joe Bennett
- Shawn Daley
- Ezra Claytan Daniels
- Steve Ellis
- Ronilson Freire
- Dan Mora
- Dustin Nguyen
- Ryan Ottley
- Sean Phillips – Winner
Best Inker
- J.P. Mayer
- Mark Morales
- Ron Randall
- Fiona Staples – Winner
- Sana Takeda
Best Letterer
- David Aja
- Arechan
- Taylor Esposito
- Jared K. Fletcher
- Todd Klein – Winner
Best Colorist
- Tamra Bonvillain – Winner
- Steve Conley
- Matt Hollingsworth
- Rachel Smythe
- Dave Stewart
- Matt Wilson
- YaongYi
Best Cover Artist
- Travis Charest
- Nick Derington
- Dan Mora
- Sara Richard
- Alex Ross
- Fiona Staples – Winner
- Jim Woodring
Best Series
- Batman: White Knight, DC Comics
- Bitter Root, Image Comics
- Black Hammer: Age of Doom, Dark Horse Comics – Winner (tie)
- Blammo, Kilgore Books
- The Highest House, IDW Publishing
- The Immortal Hulk, Marvel Comics – Winner (tie)
- Venom, Marvel Comics
Best Single Issue or Story
- Aberrant #4, Danger Zone
- Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise, Dark Horse Comics
- Champions #24, Marvel Comics
- Klaus and the Crying Snowman, BOOM! Studios
- Swamp Thing Winter Special, DC Comics – Winner
Best Original Graphic Novel
- The Ghost, The Owl, Action Lab Entertainment
- My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies, Image Comics – Winner
- Son of Hitler, Image Comics
- Upgrade Soul, Lion Forge
- Woman World, Drawn & Quarterly
Best Anthology
- Action Comics: 80 Years of Superman, DC Comics
- All We Ever Wanted: Stories of a Better World, A Wave Blue World
- Femme Magnifique: 50 Magnificent Women Who Changed the World, Black Crown/IDW Publishing
- Grief, Source Point Press
- Twisted Romance, Image Comics
- Where We Live, A Benefit for the Survivors in Las Vegas, Image Comics – Winner
Best Humor Comic
- Bluechair, WEBTOON
- Get Naked, Image Comics
- Love Advice from the Great Duke of Hell, WEBTOON
- MAD, DC Comics – Winner
- Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons, IDW Publishing
Best Comic Strip or Panel
- Amazing Spider-Man, Stan Lee/Larry Lieber, King Features Syndicate
- Bloom County, Berkeley Breathed, Andrews McMeel Universal
- Doonsbury, Garry Trudeau, Andrews McMeel Universal
- Garfield, Jim Davis, King Features Syndicate
- Luann, Greg Evans, Andrews McMeel Universal
- Nancy, Olivia Jaimes, Andrews McMeel Universal – Winner
- Pearls Before Swine, Stephan Pastis, Andrews McMeel Universal
Best Webcomic
- Age Matters, Enjelicious, (https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/age-matters/list?title_no=1364&page=1)
- Aztec Empire, Paul Guinan, Anina Bennett, David Hahn (https://www.bigredhair.com/books/aztec-empire/about/)
- The Contradictions, Sophie Yanow (http://www.thecontradictions.com/)
- Existential Comics, Corey Mohler (https://existentialcomics.com/)
- Lavender Jack, Dan Schkade (https://www.webtoons.com/en/thriller/lavender-jack/list?title_no=1410&page=1)
- Luff, Arechan, (https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/luff/list?title_no=1489&page=1)
- The Nib, various (https://thenib.com/) – Winner
- Nothing Special, Katie Cook (https://www.webtoons.com/en/fantasy/nothing-special/list?title_no=1188&page=1)
Best Non-fiction Comic Work
- All the Answers, Simon & Schuster
- The Bridge: How the Roeblings Connected Brooklyn to New York, Abrams ComicArts
- Hey, Kiddo, Graphix
- I Moved to Los Angeles to Work in Animation, BOOM! Studios
- Let’s Make Comics!, Watson-Guptill
- Where We Live, A Benefit for the Survivors in Las Vegas, Image Comics – Winner
Best Kids Comic or Graphic Novel
- Aquicorn Cove, Oni Press
- Be Prepared, First Second Books
- Jupiter Jet, Action Lab Entertainment
- The Nameless City: The Divided Earth, First Second Books
- The Prince and the Dressmaker, First Second Books
- Punk Taco, Adam Wallenta Entertainment – Winner
Best Presentation in Design
- Absolute Sandman Overture, DC Comics – Winner
- Berlin, Drawn & Quarterly
- Madman Quarter Century Shindig, IDW Publishing
- My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies, Image Comics
- Only Living Boy Omnibus, Papercutz
- Persephone, BOOM! Studios
- Terry Moore’s Strangers in Paradise Gallery Edition, Abstract Studio/Graphitti Designs
- Yellow Negros and Other Imaginary Creatures, New York Review Comics
The 2019 Ringo Awards Professional Jury...

DR. CHRISTINA BLANCH
Owner and Manager of Aw Yeah Comics in Muncie, Indiana. Writer of comics including Tales from the Crypt and The Damnation of Charlie Wormwood.

TIM LENAGHAN
Vice President of Purchasing at Diamond Comic Distributors. Former reviewer at IGN.com and participated in Emerson College’s Graphic Novel Certificate program.

AFUA RICHARDSON
Illustrator of the acclaimed graphic novel series Black Panther: World of Wakanda. Other works include: Attack on Titan, and covers for X-Men ’92, Captain Marvel, Captain America & the Mighty Avengers, and All-Star Batman.

BOB SCHRECK
Award-winning editor, shepherding such titles as Frank Miller’s Sin City, Dark Horse Presents, DK2, Batman: Hush, Sweet Tooth, Batman: Year 100, Daytripper, and many others. He has served as editor for such talents as Neil Gaiman, Harlan Ellison, Bernie Wrightson, Fiona Staples, Frank Miller, and many others. Bob also co-founded Oni Press.

TOM SPURGEON
Longtime comics industry journalist and the Executive Director at the Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC). Former editor of The Comics Journal and current editor of The Comics Reporter. Co-author of books including Stan Lee And The Rise And Fall Of The American Comic Book, The Romita Legacy, and We Told You So: Comics As Art.
Industry Veteran Bob Wayne Delivers 2019 Ringo Awards Keynote Address
The Ringo Awards Committee is proud to announce the addition of comics industry veteran Bob Wayne to the 2019 Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards ceremony as the Keynote Address speaker!
Bob Wayne was born in Fort Worth, Texas. With the same last name as Bruce Wayne, it’s appropriate that he learned to learn to read from Batman and Superman comics. The first comic he remembers purchasing was Superman #137, cover dated May 1960.
A comics and science fiction convention dealer in the 1970s, he was account #40 with Phil Seuling’s Seagate Distributors. He opened a retail store in 1980 just in time to sell copies of the Dark Phoenix Saga and the debut of the Wolfman/Pérez New Teen Titans. From August 1987 to April 2015, he was at DC Comics, rising to the position of Senior Vice President – Sales.
In 2009, he received the Inkpot Award from Comic-Con International: San Diego, which he has attended every year for the last 35 years. In 2012, he received the ComicsPRO Industry Appreciation Award. Founding ComicsPRO President Joe Field noted at the time: “I would venture to say that no one in this room knows more about comics or the comics industry than Bob Wayne.”
In 2019, he delivered the keynote speech at the annual ComicsPRO retailer meeting, and was an invited guest of Comic-Con International for the 50th San Diego Comic-Con.
His published work includes stories in Charlton’s Scary Tales and DC’s Secret Origins, as well as contributions to The Comics Journal, Lone Star Book Review, and MAD Magazine. He’s the co-author (with Lewis Shiner) of DC’s Time Masters, one of the precursors to the Legends of Tomorrow television series on The CW. He created the Card Sharks for George R.R. Martin’s long-running Wild Cards series, now in development at Hulu. He’s currently a business consultant in the publishing industry and serves on the Advisory Board of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF). He remains grateful that his mother never threw away any of his comics.
“It’s an honor to be a part of the Ringo Awards at the Baltimore Comic-Con as this year’s keynote speaker,” said Wayne. “I will attempt to share my lifelong passion for comics, the people who make them, the people who sell them, and the people who read them. Years ago, I promised Marc that I would do this speech and start it with a joke. Lucky for me I didn’t promise him it would be a good joke.”
“I’ve been lobbying to get Bob up on the dais for some time,” said Marc Nathan, Baltimore Comic-Con promoter. “He is a titan in the comics industry, he’s got amazing perspective on where we’ve been and where we’re going, and I cannot wait to hear what he has to say. He did an amazing job at ComicsPRO earlier this year, and the people attending the Ringos are in for a treat.”